Giants Select Mauricio Llovera, Designate Dalton Guthrie For Assignment
The Giants announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Mauricio Llovera, with righty Keaton Winn optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, outfielder Dalton Guthrie was designated for assignment.
Llovera, 27, pitched for the Giants last year, posting a 4.41 ERA in 16 1/3 innings. He was non-tendered at season’s end and returned on a minor league deal. He’s thrown 22 2/3 innings in the minors this year with a 3.97 ERA, striking out 31.5% of opponents while walking just 6.5%.
Those strong peripherals will get him another shot at getting outs at the big league level. He’s out of options, which means he can’t be sent back down to the minors without being exposed to waivers. But he has just under a year of service time, meaning the Giants could keep him around for future seasons if he manages to stick.
Guthrie, 27, just came over about two weeks ago, acquired from the Phillies in a cash deal after he was designated for assignment. He appeared in 14 big league games with the Phils last year and hit .333/.500/.476 but 23 games this year amounted to a line of just .167/.286/.208. Between the two clubs, he’s hit .279/.362/.443 at Triple-A this year for a wRC+ of 101.
He has the ability to play all three outfield positions and has also played the three infield spots to the left of first base. He still has a full slate of options and less than a year of service time. Given those factors and the offense he’s shown at times, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him garner interest from other clubs. The Giants will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers.
Thairo Estrada Suffers Hand Fracture
The Giants placed infielder Thairo Estrada on the 10-day injured list with a fractured left hand. San Francisco also placed starter Anthony DeSclafani on the 15-day IL (retroactive to July 2) with shoulder fatigue. Mike Yastrzemski was activated from his own IL stint, while Brett Wisely was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento.
Estrada’s injury is the most notable of today’s developments. It’s a brutal blow for the righty-swinging middle infielder. He was hit on the hand by an Adam Ottavino offering in last night’s loss to the Mets. Estrada played out the rest of the contest but apparently fractured his hand on the play.
It’s not clear how long he’ll be out of action, although Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic writes that it’s not believed to be as serious as the broken forearm that’ll cost teammate Mitch Haniger at least two and a half months. A lengthy absence seems a possibility, interrupting the best full season of his career. Estrada was hitting .272/.327/.434 with excellent defensive grades for his second base work.
Wisely steps right into the lineup at the keystone tonight, hitting eighth against Seattle pitcher Bryan Woo. The Giants are using Casey Schmitt at shortstop with Brandon Crawford battling some side discomfort. If Crawford avoids the injured list, Schmitt seems to be the top candidate for second base work while Estrada is down.
DeSclafani vacates a rotation spot, though it’s possible that’s influenced by the All-Star Break. San Francisco is off Thursday, so they won’t need a fifth starter until July 18. If DeSclafani is able to return when first eligible, they can squeeze an extra position player on the roster to weather the infield injuries.
Giants Release Jacob Nottingham
The Giants released catcher Jacob Nottingham from their Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento, per the league transaction log. Nottingham’s departure from the organization dovetails with the Giants’ recent signing of fellow catcher Jakson Reetz to a minor league deal.
Nottingham, 28, posted a .262/.360/.415 batting line in 75 plate appearances for Sacramento. He’d opened the year with the Mariners organization but struggled to a .200/.294/.450 slash in 68 plate appearances with their top affiliate. Overall, the well-traveled backstop/first baseman is batting .232/.329/.432 in 143 Triple-A plate appearances this season. Those numbers are nearly identical to his career line in 1025 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
Nottingham hasn’t seen big league action since 2021, when he was hot-potato’ed between the Brewers and Mariners several times throughout the season’s first couple months. The right-handed-hitting slugger has displayed promising power in the Majors, clubbing eight homers and connecting on three doubles in just 130 plate appearances, but he’s also fanned in 38.5% of his plate appearances at the big league level. Overall, he’s a .184/.277/.421 hitter in the Majors.
Defensively, Nottingham has a 31% caught-stealing rate in the minors, although he’s just 4-for-30 so far in 2023 (13%). He’s long drawn positive scouting grades for his big arm behind the dish, though the other aspects of his defense (blocking, receiving, framing) were typically considered to be a work in progress. In Baseball America’s 2019 scouting report on Nottingham, they noted that he’d improved his glovework to at least be passable in those areas.
Nottingham will head back to the market in search of a third organization this season. Teams are regularly in search of catching help, and Nottingham has more than 600 professional innings at first base as well, which could add to his appeal back in free agency.
Giants, Jakson Reetz Agree To Minor League Deal
The Giants have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent catcher Jakson Reetz, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. The Warner Sports Management client recently opted out of a minor league deal with the Royals after playing well for their Triple-A affiliate but not getting a call to the big leagues.
In 106 plate appearances with Triple-A Omaha this season, Reetz hit .274/.349/.526 with four homers and a dozen doubles. His 8.5% walk rate was solid, but Reetz’s 32.1% strikeout rate is obviously a number he’d prefer to curtail moving forward with his new organization.
Reetz, 27, has had the briefest of big league experience, tallying two plate appearances with the 2021 Nationals and going 1-for-2 with a double. The 2014 third-round pick is a career .242/.316/.480 hitter with 14 homers, 20 doubles and a triple in 304 Triple-A plate appearances, and he was long considered one of the 30 best prospects in Washington’s system over at Baseball America.
Defensively, Reetz has a solid reputation. BA’s scouting reports on him praised his receiving and blocking skills alike. Baseball Prospectus has credited him with average or better framing marks dating back to his 2018 season in High-A. He also touts a 30% caught-stealing mark in his minor league career, which would be well above league-average. (He’s a more pedestrian 5-of-29 so far in 2023 — a 17% success rate.)
The Giants are giving 2020 first-round pick Patrick Bailey a chance to cement himself behind the dish in San Francisco, and so far he’s run with the opportunity. In his first 111 plate appearances, Bailey is hitting .320/.349/.534 with four homers, eight doubles and a triple. A BABIP just over .400 points to some eventual regression, but the early results are encouraging.
Behind Bailey, the Giants have been using Rule 5 catcher/outfielder Blake Sabol as the primary backup. San Francisco also has former No. 2 overall pick Joey Bart on the 40-man roster down in Triple-A, and journeyman Jacob Nottingham is also with the team’s Triple-A club in Sacramento (though not on the organization’s 40-man roster). Reetz will give them some additional depth behind the plate, and he also saw 160 innings in left field while in the Brewers’ system a year ago.
Big Hype Prospects: Westburg, Matos, Crawford, Whisenhunt, Anthony
The Orioles are finally calling up one of their top hitting prospects, and it isn’t the one I expected to get the first call. Jordan Westburg will make his debut later today. I expected Colton Cowser to win the race to the Majors. With Cedric Mullins recently returning, Cowser is left to await another injury or Aaron Hicks’ inevitable collapse (good outcomes, deeply terrible EVs).
Five Big Hype Prospects
Jordan Westburg, 24, 2B/3B/SS, BAL (AAA)
301 PA, 18 HR, 6 SB, .295/.372/.567
There’s a disconnect between public perceptions of Westburg and scouting reports. The bat will play, though Westburg’s penchant to swing-and-miss could result in long slumps as reports identify exploitable weaknesses. His minor league exit velocities would rate as above average in the Majors. Additionally, Westburg seemingly mixes discipline and targeted aggression in a way that could help keep his strikeouts under control – it has thus far in the minors.
The trouble is his defense. He’s trained all over the infield. Some think he’ll eventually land in left field. We see these sorts of bat-first players all over the league. His flexibility enables the club to view him as a tenth man akin to Chris Taylor (to be clear, Taylor is a far superior fielder). When approaching roster construction, Westburg can be slotted into whatever spot needs filling or else rotate with the regulars to keep everyone fresh.
Luis Matos, 21, OF, SFG (MLB)
45 PA, 1 HR, 2 SB, .282/.378/.385
On the back of a mediocre AFL performance, it wasn’t guaranteed the Giants were going to roster Matos this year. He would have likely gone early in the Rule 5 draft if they hadn’t. Matos immediately rewarded San Francisco’s decision to protect him. Though discipline has long been a weakness, he has more walks than strikeouts through 45 plate appearances after hitting .398/.435/.685 in 116 Triple-A plate appearances. The 21-year-old has looked like a new hitter this year.
There are still worrying details under the surface. His 89.5-mph average and 107.5-mph max exit velocities suggest middling power. Given his age, he could easily grow into more power – several evaluators believe this will happen. It’s my expectation Matos will soon enter a slump due to poor quality of contact. However, I’m optimistic about the long-range picture. In addition to burgeoning hitting skills, Matos is a plus defensive center fielder.
Justin Crawford, 19, OF, PHI (A)
202 PA, 0 HR, 32 SB, .346/.395/.456
I was surprised to recently discover Crawford had crept onto Baseball America’s Top 100 list. That’s not meant as a knock against Crawford. There happens to be a large number of high-quality prospects around the league. Crawford is more projection than actuality at this stage of his development.
The 17th pick of the 2022 draft, Crawford was seen as the sort of toolsy, incomplete prospect the Phillies have historically loved – and struggled to develop. He’s performing decently in Low-A where his first-rate speed is on display. A .423 BABIP has allowed him to get away with too many swinging strikes for his current low-power profile. He’s expected to age into roughly average pop, so this problem could go away in a couple ways. Comparisons to his father, Carl Crawford, come naturally as they share quite a few traits. He’s reportedly comfortable making adjustments to his hitting mechanics which further increases the volatility of his prospectdom.
Carson Whisenhunt, 22, SP, SFG (AA)
(A/A+/AA) 49.2 IP, 12.9 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 2.90 ERA
Whisenhunt would rank higher among evaluators if not for off-field issues. As it is, he’s still in consideration for the back-end of Top 100 lists. The simplest issue to comment on publicly is his failed PED test in college. You’ll notice, it’s rare for college players to be caught for PEDs, and it’s not because they’re squeaky clean. For his part, Whisenhunt blames a tainted supplement. The skinny southpaw leads with a double-plus changeup and is only just reaching a level where hitters will have some capacity to cope with the pitch. His changeup is such that he won’t truly be tested until he reaches the Majors. The profile and build are reminiscent of Cole Hamels.
Roman Anthony, 19, OF, BOS (A+)
(A/A+) 251 PA, 5 HR, 12 SB, .236/.379/.382
Anyone statistically minded is going to like Anthony. A 19-year-old performing well in High-A is exciting stuff, particularly when said 19-year-old has a 171 wRC+ in 49 plate appearances. He was considerably more ordinary in Low-A, posting a 110 wRC+ in 202 plate appearances. A sweet-swinging lefty slugger, Anthony has considerable development ahead of him if he’s to continue this speedy race toward the Majors. The P-word gets thrown around. Against better competition, Anthony will find himself behind in the count all too often. Passivity isn’t a death knell. We saw Gunnar Henderson defeat it entering last season and again about a month ago. It’s a trait which has a way of echoing. But for the passivity, Anthony has all the traits of a starting corner outfielder.
FanGraphs gives Anthony a four-paragraph writeup that says more than I can in this space.
Three More
Edouard Julien, MIN (24): The star of the 2022 AFL, Julien is on the verge of losing his prospect “eligibility.” He’s batting .252/.336/.439 through 123 plate appearances. A 34.1 percent strikeout rate has held him back. He also has a 12.5 percent swinging strike rate – nearly double that of his Triple-A performance. Defensively limited, Julien appears in need of an adjustment or two. He has the tools to pull it off.
Jacob Misiorowski, MIL (21): It’s good to be unique as a pitcher. Misiorowski certainly checks the “unique” box. The 6’7’’ right-hander has the sort of funky arm action that makes it hard to identify balls and strikes. Misiorowski lacks a changeup, but we’ve seen plenty of starters succeed without one in recent years, especially those who can live up in the zone with hard heat. He currently has poor command.
Quinn Priester, PIT (22): Priester has been on the radar for a while, bouncing in and out of the Top 100 prospects. He’s a ground ball pitcher who manages around a strikeout per inning while limiting walks and piling up ground balls. Since his fastball isn’t particularly effective, he should be viewed as a potential back-of-the-rotation guy – the type who keeps his team in the game.
Did I miss a detail or nuance? DM me on Twitter @BaseballATeam to suggest corrections.
Giants Reinstate Ross Stripling, Place Luke Jackson On 15-Day IL
The Giants announced that right-hander Ross Stripling has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list. Stripling will take the roster spot left open by Luke Jackson, who is headed to the 15-day IL himself due to a lower back strain.
Stripling has missed over five weeks due to his own back strain, and the injury layoff might effectively serve as a reset to his first season with the Giants. Over his first 32 1/3 innings of the season, Stripling posted a 7.24 ERA while allowing 10 home runs. While naturally a small sample size, these struggles are a big step back from the impressive numbers Stripling posted with the Blue Jays in 2022, when the righty delivered a 3.01 ERA over 134 1/3 frames (and with only 12 total homers allowed).
It isn’t what San Francisco was expecting when it signed Stripling to a two-year, $25MM free agent deal in the offseason. His early struggles led the Giants to pretty quickly move him to the bullpen, though Stripling found himself back in the rotation due to some other injuries within the starting staff. Between Stripling’s return and Alex Cobb‘s expected activation from the IL later this week, the Giants are getting closer to having their full complement of starting pitchers available.
It remains to be seen if Stripling will indeed continue to work as a starter, or if he might return to a straight relief role or a hybrid of the two in his old swingman role. The Giants’ choice is probably between Stripling and Sean Manaea as the fifth starter, or the team could use both in a piggyback capacity, or perhaps move both pitchers in and out of the rotation as a floating sixth starter to give the other starters some extra rest when necessary. This is the type of flexibility San Francisco was looking for in signing Stripling in the first place, though naturally the righty will have to get back on track performance-wise.
Jackson left yesterday’s game due to his back injury, and he’ll now unfortunately head back to the IL after already missing the entire 2022 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Giants only activated him on May 30, and Jackson pitched well in his first nine appearances of 2023, posting a 2.16 ERA, 30.3% strikeout rate, and 6.1% walk rate over 8 1/3 innings.
Giants Place Mike Yastrzemski On Injured List, Recall Isan Diaz
The Giants announced a pair of roster moves before tonight’s division matchup with the Diamondbacks. Outfielder Mike Yastrzemski is headed to the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 22, with a left hamstring strain. Infielder Isan Díaz was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento to take the active roster spot.
Yastrzemski has landed on the IL with left hamstring concerns twice this season. He returned within two weeks back in May. The club will hope for a similarly swift comeback this time around. Yastrzemski has a .259/.324/.482 line with 10 home runs through 217 trips to the plate. He’s played primarily center field but moved to left field once Mitch Haniger broke his arm and the Giants called up Luis Matos to man center.
Blake Sabol is getting the nod in left field tonight against a right-handed pitcher. Austin Slater picked up the start against a left-hander yesterday, and the club could continue with a platoon arrangement in Yastrzemski’s absence.
Díaz is starting at second base. It’s his team debut and first MLB appearance since 2021. A former top prospect, he struggled to a .185/.275/.287 line in 500 plate appearances with the Marlins between 2019-21. San Francisco signed him to a minor league deal in 2022.
The left-handed hitter had a strong ’22 season in Sacramento, hitting .275/.377/.574 in 83 games. The Giants selected his contract at the start of last offseason to prevent him from returning to minor league free agency. He spent most of this season on the minor league injured list but is now healthy and ready to don a San Francisco uniform for the first time.
Bobby Bolin Passed Away
Former major league pitcher Bobby Bolin passed away earlier this month, as noted by the New York Post’s David Russell. He was 84.
A South Carolina native, Bolin entered the professional ranks in 1956 when he signed with the Giants out of high school. He reached the majors four years later, debuting in April ’61 not long after his 22nd birthday. The 6’4″ righty worked mostly in relief over his first few seasons.
Immediately effective, Bolin posted a sub-4.00 ERA in each of his first six campaigns. San Francisco increasingly entrusted him with rotation work midway through the decade. By 1966, he’d make 34 starts and log a personal-high 224 1/3 innings while pitching to a 2.89 ERA. Bolin rebounded from an uncharacteristic 4.88 mark to allow only 1.99 earned runs per nine over 176 2/3 frames in 1968.
Even in the colloquial “Year of the Pitcher,” that was standout run prevention. Bolin ranked seventh among qualified hurlers in ERA that season. He remained in San Francisco through the end of the decade. After the 1969 campaign, San Francisco traded Bolin to Milwaukee for outfielders Dick Simpson and Steve Whitaker. The Brewers wound up flipping him to the Red Sox later in the season.
Bolin closed his career with three-plus seasons in Boston. Moved back into exclusive relief work, he finished with another pair of sub-3.00 ERA campaigns.
Altogether, Bolin pitched in parts of 13 big league seasons. His peak came with the Giants, for whom he worked to a 3.26 ERA in just shy of 1300 innings. He tallied 1576 frames over 495 appearances (164 starts) overall. Bolin had a career 3.40 ERA, won 88 games, struck out just shy of 1200 batters and collected 51 saves. He never won a World Series but was on a San Francisco team that claimed the NL pennant in 1962; Bolin pitched twice against the Yankees in that year’s Fall Classic.
MLBTR sends our condolences to his family, loved ones and friends.
Giants Acquire Dalton Guthrie From Phillies
The Giants have acquired outfielder Dalton Guthrie from the Phillies for cash, according to announcements from both teams. San Francisco optioned him to Triple-A Sacramento. In order to create space on the 40-man roster, they transferred Mitch Haniger from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.
Philadelphia had designated Guthrie for assignment earlier in the week, clearing a roster spot for Darick Hall to return from the injured list. That spurred the first organization change of his career. Guthrie had been with the Phils since they nabbed him in the sixth round of the 2017 draft coming out of Florida.
Guthrie first reached the majors last September. He played in 14 regular season games and made a single appearance in the Division Series during Philadelphia’s run to the NL pennant. Guthrie has gotten into 23 more games this year, starting eight times.
Between the two seasons, the right-handed hitter has a .244/.393/.333 line in his first 56 trips to the plate. He has quite a bit more Triple-A experience, tallying 607 plate appearances in parts of three seasons. Guthrie is a .296/.359/.467 hitter at the top minor league level. He can play all three outfield spots and had some infield experience earlier in his pro career.
Guthrie has never been regarded as a high-upside prospect. The 27-year-old has some positional flexibility and a solid minor league track record, though. There’s little downside for the Giants in jumping the waiver order to add him as a depth player. He’s in his first of three option years, meaning the club can keep him in Triple-A for the next few seasons if he earns a lasting 40-man roster spot.
Haniger’s injury meant the Giants were operating with a de facto opening on the 40-man. He underwent surgery to repair a fractured right ulna last week. He’ll be out into September.
NL West Notes: Giants, Lugo, Dodgers
Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area discussed the injury situations facing the Giants earlier today, noting that right-hander Alex Cobb expects to only miss the minimum 15-days after landing on the injured list earlier today with an oblique strain. Cobb noted to reporters that he felt he could take the mound as soon as Wednesday, but the club is opting to “protect him for the long haul”, in the words of manager Gabe Kapler.
That’s phenomenal news for San Francisco, as Cobb has been among the club’s most reliable starters this season with a 3.09 ERA and 3.24 FIP in 78 2/3 innings of work. Nonetheless, it raises the question of who the club can add to the rotation alongside Logan Webb, Alex Wood, and Anthony DeSclafani while Cobb is on the shelf. One possibility, per The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly, is right-hander Sean Hjelle, who was scratched from his start at the Triple-A level today. Hjelle could replace left-hander Scott Alexander on the active roster for the Giants, as both Pavlovic and Baggarly note that the lefty reliever is expected to head to the injured list after leaving today’s game against the Dodgers with a hamstring issue.
More from around the NL West…
- The Padres expect to welcome right-hander Seth Lugo back into the fold on Tuesday, when he figures to start against the Giants in San Francisco. Per MLB.com, Lugo threw a 60-pitch simulated game on Thursday, which would put the righty in line for around 80 pitches on Tuesday. Manager Bob Melvin told reporters today that the injury, while not ideal, has allowed the club to manage Lugo’s innings. While Lugo had largely pitched well in eight starts, with a 4.10 ERA and a 3.94 FIP, Lugo has never thrown more than 101 1/3 innings in a season in his career and last threw more than 65 innings back in 2019. Given that reality, Lugo’s month-long stint on the injured list has potentially allowed San Diego to avoid limiting his innings later in the season.
- Dodgers fans have new clarity on the timelines of left-hander Julio Urias and right-hander Daniel Hudson, both of whom have made notable strides in their rehab processes in recent days. Manager Dave Roberts provided a specific timetable to reporters today, as noted by J.P. Hoornstra of the Orange County Register. Per Roberts, both pitchers are poised to be activated from the injured list during the club’s upcoming three-game set in Kansas City, which will take place from June 30 to July 2. All told, Urias will have missed six weeks while dealing with a hamstring strain if everything goes according to plan from here, while Hudson will make his 2023 debut after missing more than a calendar year while rehabbing from left knee surgery.